Hi, Y'all!
Although it didn't quite work out with the carnival celebrations in Eschweiler, I was at least able to follow a little thanks to social media. A live stream would have been nice, but only the Aachen parade was broadcast - although the one in Eschweiler is much longer and more spectacular!
Anyway, as we all know, everything is over on Ash Wednesday (famous German song: Am Aschermittwoch ist alles vorbei...) and Lent begins at the same time. Normally I have as little to do with Lent as I do with New Year's resolutions, but this time I actually want to take part. The spiritual idea behind it is that, after all the partying, you reflect on the essentials and, through self-imposed renunciation, realize what you actually have and how well off you are (and that others may not).
But if I'm honest, this aspect is secondary, although I'm all for pausing for a moment and realizing how well off I personally am. But what actually prompted me to take part in Lent this year was the fact that I had a health check-up a good year ago in January and was very happy with the number on the scales. Shortly afterwards, a uniform was tailor-made for the receptionists in our office (including me). Since then, I've been going to work dressed as a black and yellow flight attendant - not my first choice, but on the one hand I need fewer new clothes and on the other hand I don't have to think long and hard about what to wear in the morning.
Recently, however, the costume hasn't been as comfortable as it was at the beginning and I had a vague idea that this wasn't due to material shrinkage... So I wanted to be more disciplined with exercise again, but a nasty cold put a spanner in the works. But if I'm honest with myself, I was lazy, rested on my pillow of contentment and preferred knitting to exercise. And since I love cooking and baking, someone has to eat it after all. So I was desperately seeking (not Susan) but some motivation and a goal to work towards.
Today I had a workshop appointment for the Beetle, and I was supposed to drop it off at 7 a.m. - so there was only time for a coffee, not a normal breakfast. And when I entered the appointment in my calendar, I realized that it coincided with Ash Wednesday. OK, so if I have to give up breakfast - albeit for time reasons - why not give intermittent fasting a try? So yesterday I spontaneously checked it out a bit and decided to give my metabolism a little kick-start during the fasting period. Due to the temporary hunger phases, there should be no yo-yo effect because they are only short-term and the metabolism doesn't go into panic mode. I confronted the hubs with my plan yesterday and he agreed to take part. I think that's good, it's always easier if you are not alone.
And so this morning I bravely faced a) my demons and b) the scales with the result: in the last 14 months I have actually put on 4 kg and I don't want that! And so now I highly motivated hold out until 12 noon and then I have breakfast with muesli, oat milk and fruit, and after work I cook like usual so that we can eat dinner comfortably and without rushing until 8 pm. We want to keep this up until Easter and see if we can manage it and if it helps us on the scales - ideally 5 kilos, that would be great. Realistic goals and stuff - you know, a St. Bernard won't turn into a greyhound. But a healthy, agile St. Bernard - that's what I want to be!
Oh, and if you take a closer look at the calendar, you'll notice that the 40 days to Easter don't quite fit. I did some research and found the following: Sundays have been exempt from fasting as so-called “small resurrection days” since the 5th century. To get to the 40 days, you count from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. But I don't want to overdo it, so our personal fasting period will be from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday (on Good Friday we have flour dumplings as a traditional fasting dish in our family - more on this in a separate post), and the weekends will be excluded.
Now it's lunch time, I'm looking forward to my brunch, and apart from a slight hunger pang, today was actually fine. I was also well distracted, though, because when I wanted to leave for the garage this morning, the car wouldn't start - how fitting. So I had to have it towed away. And then there was always something to do at work, so no time to feel sorry for myself. Oh, and the battery in the Beetle just died, I didn't use it often enough :-)
That's it for now - I'll keep you posted!
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